Car Crash: Ferrari 458 Italia Destroyed After 2 Hours of Ownership

As mentioned in post 7 the crash as described by the OP has no relevance to the picture or the situation as described resulting in the crash shown in the picture. No disrespect to the op as I am sure many incidents are re discovered on the Internet, as it were, and reported as new news which can result in the facts getting distorted. I am told it re surfaced on wreckedexotics.com but have not bothered to check.

Many points in this thread are valid especially if the incident as described actually happened.

I met the chap involved who was driving the 458 in the picture when it crashed at the 458 launch in maranello and know the supplying dealer well.

The crash pictured:

1. Happened 2 years or so ago
2. The driver had owned many ferraris over 20+ years and by all accounts knew how to drive them and enjoyed them all - he had a scud at the time of the crash
3. The crash happened at an estimated 30 mph in heavy town traffic when the driver had a medical incident. There was no braking. - the car ran into the back of the truck with no braking and no excessive speed.
4. I am told the driver had minor injuries resulting from the crash.
5. The roof was cut off by the fire services to remove the driver - the damage in the photograph was not caused entirely by the accident.
6. The car was not his or bought a few hours previously. The car was the dealers demonstrator and he had one on order.
7. The driver was a valued customer and was given cars to test drive with no dealer representative on board and there were no passengers.

Again no offence to the op, I just wanted to clear things up.

 

As a prior post pointed out, the Irish incident occurred because the driver became ill while driving. In any event, there are -- and have been for years -- plenty of cases of inexperienced drivers getting behind the wheel of high performance cars and quickly getting into serious accidents. I recall that early 911 Turbos were known as "doctor killers" after some new drivers got their first (and last) taste of oversteer and, in a notable 1983 incident during the tech boom, the CEO of Eagle Computer was killed in a high speed accident in his new Ferrari within hours of the company's IPO that made him wealthy (his passenger, a yacht salesman, was also seriously injured).

Contributing factors: ego; feelings of invincibility; lack of discipline; lack of skill; no understanding of just how quick some of these cars really are; no understanding of handling limits; and not realizing that the sports car that accelerates twice as fast as your prior car cannot stop in half the distance (unless it hits something).

 

Thank you for clarifying. Easy to get carried away and judge that it is the driver's fault. Hope the chap was ok.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/458-italia/324485-458-crash-northern-ireland-poor-berlinetta-becomes-spider.html

Previously been discussed? - looks very similar.

Sunny

 

In bold above...

 

Respectfully, I believe the three pedal car would deter some people , certainly those not driving a manual transmission vehicle before (hard to believe someone would buy a three pedal 458 as their first car - possible but less likely). We are all "smart", to prove my point, who here will post their admission to being overall "stupid"? We make "stupid mistakes", and it only takes one to have a very bad day. I do not think the issue is the "speed" per se, but your point is well taken, what I am speaking of is "acceleration" getting the better of people (driver and other vehicles) who are "surprised" by overtaking.. I think you and I agree, some people should not drive these cars. Best

 

"Big money provide some people big ego and a sense of invincibility...................."

Correct. A phrase I heard years ago...at a Doctor friend's funeral--after he crashed his Beechcraft Baron.....'too rich to think'. Simple and true.

People forget that physics always wins.

 

I should add most of the time. It does happen but most people who have been sucessful had something going for them. One of the issues can be over self confidence. Most people when they fly especially when they stick thier toe into bad weather are very careful.

Not everbody should fly. I get it and understand from personal experience.

You say bad things about A" Freind" who died. The data showed when I flew that 1 out of 5 pilots would die in a plane crash if they flew 100 hours a year for 10 years.

I suspect you are very young so that was a throw away line or someone you knew said that.

If not "simple and true" I would change to simplton and that is very true.

Lee and Bonanza N325WC

Lee

 

Granted that not everyone should fly a plane, but I suspect that the odds of surviving 1000 hours of flying are quite a bit better than 4 in 5. NTSB figures for 2011 NTSB - National Transportation Safety Board (Table 1) cites 1.17 deaths per 100,000 departures in general aviation. Then even an average flight of a couple of hours gives a general aviation fatality of about one in ~200,000 hours.

 

Man, I hope all parties are all right. These cars are no joke. When I was a paramedic I've seen people lose control of Toyota Corollas. A powerful car like this can break loose without a moments notice with a driver trying to handle all that unfamiliar power.

 

Not correct. Problem it's not on the money. It's on stupidity.

No one who somehow do or did for resolve life issues by himself and been successful can forget that physics always wins. If he won he knows he's not stupid.

Excepting health issues and great misfortunes, there are only two things that also kill - Stupidity and Emotional risk. Difference is - the first group can’t perceive they can die for it.

 

Nope. How many people crashed real Cobras back in the day and crash today fake Cobra's?

People didn't just start driving stupid today because there are automatic cars.

 

One of the contributing Facts about these crashes is that these cars are SO fast and SO capable that one does not realize the trouble he is in until it is too late to do anything about it. The result is usually a spectacular crash because you can really only crash these things at high speed.

From another perspective, my car has saved me from several possible catastrophies by being able to handle, brake and power out of situations where a mere mortal car would have simply not been capable.

 

That doesn't look good for the occupants, especially the left seat.

 

I am tempted to agree that the stupidity level has increased. It has increased in pretty much every arena of possible competence ranging from literate writing (have you seen any recently) to political awareness. Try asking a recent college graduate to name the Vice President of the United States ... or how many Supreme Court Justices sit. Try asking someone to define a pronoun. Or who won the Battle of the Bulge -- or even which countries were involved.

Merely having the money to buy an expensive car does not suggest that emotional maturity helped acquire those assets.

 

I think before we insist on testing prospective drivers before allowing them to buy a high performance car, we should test computer owners before allowing them to post nonsense on the internet.

 

It is just Darwin at work.

 

Just look at what happened at a surfing tournament in Huntington Beach last week and it's hard to argue society in general is not getting stupider.

 

Did someone die? I missed that horrible detail. If not, please don't post
"Darwin at work" i.e., no longer able to reproduce etc.

Dumb car crash by an inexperienced driver? Sure. As far as what we know anyway.

But "Darwin at work"???

If you know something we don't from this thread, please post. Otherwise.....

I get what you mean - but just out of respect for the dude, ya know?

Jedi

 

My understanding is that this person had a medical condition that caused the crash and was not seriously injured. It looks worse because the fireman cut off the roof to get him out.

 

Sometimes there is a very patronizing element to this board. Someone posts a picture and straight away its 'stupidity, too much money not enough skill' boom straight away, even before anyone knows what caused such a crash, then that rattles on through 3 pages of thread, even though in post 7 it is explained what caused it.
All comes across a bit 'hollier than thou'...just don't get on here of al places how everyone wants to crucify the drivers for been too stupid & too rich and not able to control soooo much power.....guys leave that for the tabloids, wait for the facts first

 

Well... it did happen 2 years ago. Not many remember what went down then.

 

The break-in period suggested in the manual is not for the car, it's for you.

 

Thats the one, I had not seen that thread or most of those pictures myself.

I must correct my earlier post - the driver survived the crash and is still around but did suffer from the medical incident. I will leave it at that.

 

Hi performance toys of any kind can kill.

Clint Eastwood said it best:

"A man needs to know his limitations"

 

This is true and a very good post.

Lee